


Hidden Hands

by CaptCara



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Anxiety, Bullying, M/M, Panic Attack, scars on hands, self concious
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-12
Updated: 2016-08-12
Packaged: 2018-08-08 05:41:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,197
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7745404
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaptCara/pseuds/CaptCara
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Keith thought as a kid that his big birthmarks on his hands were awesome! That they held a great meaning behind them of sorts.</p><p>But after some bullying from some kids, he hated them.</p><p>He covers them up with gloves and keeps them hidden.</p><p>Keith hopes no one asks about them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hidden Hands

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone! Sorry I haven't been posting as much lately, but with my life at the moment it has been a bit stressful
> 
> But anyways, I do hope you enjoy this fic andI do apologize in advance if the characters aren't completely in character, I have yet to fully get used to writing these characters.
> 
> Practice makes perfect, but I hope either way that you find enjoyment in this fic!

Keith had, since he could remember, been told by his mom and sometimes his dad that his big birthmarks on his hands were special and that they were special. He would always light up when they would compliment his marks. And at night he would try to come up with amazing stories behind those marks.

They were like dark splotches on his hands, looking like he had just painted with brown paint and that some of it was on his hands still, while some looked as light as coffee stains.

So for the first years of his life, everything was good. He was very talkative and very cheerful around others and very open around new people.

But then, he started to go to school. 

Most say that kids are cruel, and they are right. 

When he was young, he didn’t understand why others would hate his birthmarks. They were named birthmarks for a reason, he was born with them. 

At first it was just nicknames, which Keith thought were compliments, others looking at him weirdly, heck others didn’t want to physically be near him.

This made Keith think he had done something wrong, that he had somehow insulted them or looked at them weirdly.

He decided to go to his parents to see if he can fix it somehow.

His mom and dad were shocked and explained to young Keith that he hadn’t done anything and that it’s the others. But telling him that it will pass, that soon everyone would see how amazing he was.

It started to escalate from there. 

Kids would yell out insults at him during lunch and recess, others would leave notes on his desk telling him how his hands were ugly. This caused Keith to be more introverted and his parents to really become protective of him. They had tried to talk to the teachers, but it would always end up with the peace only lasting a short while. 

It was like a continuous cycle.

Nowadays he noticed that some didn’t want to, but most likely had to to not be bullied as well.

His parents told him that by the end of the 6th grade that they would be able to move and for Keith go to another school altogether. Keith was happy to hear that he wouldn’t be around his classmates and teachers for long, he just had to pull through.

At age 12, Keith was walking home alone. Usually he would be picked up by his mom, but that day she had to do some errands and his dad was on some business meeting in Korea.

He was making his way home and hoping nothing would happen.

Luck was not on his side that day.

Most of it was a blur and he just remembers a couple of kids and their older siblings yelling at him, insulting him and then throwing a glass bottle on the ground and he was pushed on top of the glass.

His hands were the ones that had gotten most of the impact.

He was screaming and crying at this point until he was starting to feel dizzy.

Those kids then quickly ran off he guessed and the next thing he knows is that he is in a hospital and his mom is by his bedside crying.

His mom explained that the kids had been caught by a man that was out walking his dog and saw what was happening and was able to call the hospital and that the man looked through his school books to see his name and his mom’s phone number to be able to call her.

Keith then looked down on his hands and saw how bandaged up they were. He could still feel the pain, even though he was on pain medication.

He then cried.

No not the ‘beautiful’ crying you see on TV, but sobbing. The whole nine yards.

All of those years of keeping most of his stories hidden and enduring all of the bullying just broke him down at last.

His mom held him and said repeatedly sorry and that she would make sure this would never happen again.

His dad came back the next day after being called on what had happened. He also cried, something that does happen with him on occasion, but he also wouldn’t stop hugging him.

Everything went back into a blur and he just remembers little specks of things.

Like how the principle just yelled at his parents and Keith himself for not being ‘responsible’. How it was simply Keith’s fault to begin with for not covering up his hands. And that he asked for it.

Nowadays, Keith would have thought of several insults on that demon of a woman. Also how the parents of the kids were no better, also throwing out insults. And other little specks that he had since blocked out.

How now his hands now had little yet noticeable scars all over his two hands.

Once he was home and his room, he quickly found some gloves and refused to take them off.

His parents then decided to just quickly move to another state and into a new town.

Keith didn’t talk as often, if anything he almost became non-verbal. Doctors later said it was because of the shock of experiencing such an event and also just from the stress.

When his parents asked him if he wanted to attend school, Keith panicked and almost had a panic attack. Both Thace and Bora decided to put Keith into therapy to help him and to homeschool him with the help of a neighbor who used to homeschool her own son.

Keith was first afraid that his psychologist would be horrible to him, that he would tell Keith that we was overreacting and that he was a bother. But the man was actually a bit silly but well meaning and worked well with Keith. Coran gladly gave him advice on just simple things and never made fun of his hands, if anything he had Keith do little things during their sessions. Like origami or flipping a pen or really anything to give him something to comfort him when he is panicking.

Coran also didn’t have a problem with him wearing gloves, saying that they would work on it in the future, but would take it slowly.

His mom even offered to teach Keith how to best defend himself, something that she should have done years ago but Bora can’t dwell too much on the past.

During one of his homeschooling sessions with his mom and their neighbor, a boy came through the door. 

That was the first time he met Shiro.

Shiro is the son of the neighbor and Keith had only briefly met Shiro a couple of weeks prior. From what Keith could remember was that Shiro had to meet up with his friends.

He seemed to only be maybe one or two years older than Keith. 

Keith first thought that he was going to make fun of him, but instead this kid just walks up to him and starts talking to Keith. They end up for hours just talking, but it was actually Shiro that was doing most of the talking. He was talking about his day, his hobbies, what his favorite food was, pretty much anything.

And Keith felt… happy.

Here was someone his own age not making fun of him and actually wanting to be his friend.

Keith later told Shiro a summarized version on what had happened to him and Shiro still stuck with him.

It was when Keith was turning 16 that he wanted to go to high school.

This was mostly due to Shiro telling him that he would fit well into school and that he would do well there. He even said he would be great at being in the Boxing club. Though Keith didn’t want to lose any of his teeth thanks.

Coran was shocked, but was going to back him up. He could tell that Coran was also happy about this. Coran even offered to make a note for the school to let him wear his gloves since Keith still doesn’t want to take them off.

His parents were first worried, but they still wanted him to no longer feel afraid of the rest of the world.

That is when he went to his local high school. It was a rather massive building, which Keith thought he could never remember where everything was. But Shiro showed and helped him around to make sure Keith knew where everything was.

The first couple of weeks weren’t that bad actually.

His teachers were pretty alright and he got to hang out with Shiro more and more. 

No one was giving him a hard time and after a week, everyone left him alone and Keith was fine with that.

And then Lance McClain came into his life.

Keith remembered it being art class when the rather well known ‘failed casanova’ started to talk to him. He had heard of him through passing in the halls and saw him every once and awhile. He guesses that before that day, Lance just didn’t notice him or really paid attention to anything that wasn’t a beautiful girl.

He could tell that Lance was flirting with him, but he just thought that he was just joking and moved on. Over time, Lance did stop the flirting.

The two started to form a semi rivalry during PE. And only in PE.

Every other class, the two teens would be at a peace of sorts. He honestly could not explain why, he guessed that Lance needed some form of good rivalry of sorts in PE.

Or the poor guy had watched way too many anime.

Keith didn’t really complain though, if anything the rivalry was actually a bit of fun. 

At first it seemed like Lance wanted this to be serious, but really it was just silly and they just went for silly instead.

At first their interaction in school has been of; Lance greeting Keith every once and a while and in PE, they had their friendly rivalry.

Keith actually liked being around Lance.

Like, a lot.

He wanted to tell him that, but Keith knew that with him it would come out wrong and that Lance only saw him as just something to practice flirting with and physical exercise.

For some reason, that just stung.

But one day, Lance invited Keith and Shiro over to his and his friends table during lunch.

There he got to meet Hunk, someone he knows from cooking class for being almost a god there, and Pidge, the troll of sorts in computer science class.

Now one would think that with their personalities combined that everything would turn to chaos.

And actually, they do get along well.

They then started to hang out even after school at either the park or one of their places.

But typically, they would be at either Lance’s place or Shiro’s.

They would do their homework quickly (with Shiro telling them to do it, like the group dad he is) and then they would watch a film of sorts.

He told Coran of his process and was very proud of him for making friends that he liked hanging out with.

His parents were also very happy for him and told him to bring them by whenever he wanted.

Overall, Keith was extremely happy.

Now unfortunately during their hangouts, Keith started to realize something.

He was starting to fall for Lance fucking McClain.

And no, not in the gradual way, but in the ‘car hits your face’ kind of way.

Keith can still remember when he first realized it.

They were all watching a film after finishing a rather hard math test that Keith, Lance, and Hunk had to do. Pidge and Shiro were kind enough to tutor them and when they all went home, Lance decided to continue to study through the night and by the time he was done with his test, he was dead tires. Thank god there were no real classes that day besides art and cooking.

Once at Lance’s house, he was able to stay conscious until the beginning of Flash Gordon started to play.

Over the course of a couple of minutes, Lance started to lean on Keith and started to snuggle. And not light or anything, but full on.

Keith wasn’t one for PDA and can feel rather uncomfortable about others hugging him.

But at that moment, he didn’t feel discomfort, but felt…

Warm.

Yeah he knew that it sounded cliche as all hell, but it was true. He seriously felt warm on the inside and felt a massive blush on his face. Thank god the room was dark and the others were looking at the film.

Keith’s mind then started to wander to all sorts of places, and all of those places were related to Lance.

Him holding Lance, him making Lance laugh, him holding hands with Lance, him… kissing Lance.

That is when Keith knew he was screwed.

He knew that Lance would never want to be with him. Lance was always flirting with any pretty girl he saw and he most likely saw Keith as a friend and why ruin that relationship. He couldn’t lose another friend or anyone he cares for. He couldn’t.

Keith then tried to calm himself like how Coran had taught him.

By the time he was able to calm himself, the film had ended and he felt exhausted.

The rest of that day was a blur but could remember going home and laying down on his bed and sleeping.

Since then, Keith had tried to keep his emotions under laps and to try and see Lance in the way of a good friend.

Instead of his beautiful tanned skin, dark locks of hair, his laugh that can make anyone brighten up, his failed yet hilarious ways he tries to flirt, the way he would push against him slightly during PE, his voice-

Okay he needed to stop thinking.

Now.

Keith also tried to distract himself, something that Shiro noticed and asked him.

He didn’t know why, but Keith spilled it all out. Everything.

Shiro wasn’t too shocked, saying that he was somewhat aware of Keith liking Lance, but didn’t know how to best bring it up.

Shiro then told Keith to do what he thought made him happy.

Keith did take that advice to heart and started to think.

He knew he wanted to ask Lance out, but never knew when or where, so he was stuck.

Until a semi miracle happened.

Now Shiro has been thinking about asking Allura out on a date.

Allura was the most popular girl at school.

Unlike most typical high school films, Allura wasn’t a cheerleader, but instead was in the Judo club and was actually nice to others.

Most guys have tried asking her out.

It would either end with a kind rejection, or that person getting a bloody nose.

Due to this, not many ask her out, so Shiro was pretty nervous.

Now Keith can admit to being pretty crappy at giving advice, but he did want to help out my friend and told Shiro to go and ask Allura.

Apparently, what Keith said for shitty advice was enough for Shiro and he thanked him.

The next day at lunch, the rest of the group could tell that Shiro was happy.

If anything, he looked like he was about to be as bright as the sun.

Which then made Keith think of the sun of the Teletubbies.

Keith guess he said that out loud because Lance, Hunk and Pidge, while coughing like crazy, laughed their asses off.

Listening to Lance’s laugh did make Keith smile happily.

After a ton of guessing on Lance’s part, Shiro finally confessed that he had asked Allura to a date later that day.

Lance and Hunk started to squeal and Keith patted Shiro on the shoulder and telling him that he knew it would end well, while Pidge was complaining on their phone that Lance and Hunk acted more like girls than they do.

As lunch progressed, Hunk had to tell us that he couldn’t make it to our their hang out that afternoon because a relative was coming over and would be staying only for that weekend.

Pidge also had to tap out, saying that they were feeling a cold coming up and didn’t want them getting sick as well.

So that day it would only be me and Lance.

Keith didn’t know if that was good or not, but he felt like now was the perfect opportunity.

Keith decided to invite Lance over for a change, knowing his parents will be out for some important dinner party and won’t be back until the next day since the party is in another state.

Lance agreed and called his mom to tell her that he was with Keith.

Once at Keith’s house, Lance started to look around the hallway and stopped in front of the pictures that were hanging on the wall.

Thank god Keith’s parents didn’t hang up embarrassing pictures up.

They did say that they will show them to his future boyfriend though.

… Damn.

While trying to convince Lance playfully that the kid in the picture grinning like he had just made the greatest thing of all was really him, they made their way to the kitchen where they got out glasses and some soda.

As they were in the kitchen, there was a silence in there that was peaceful.

That is when Keith knew that he needed to ask Lance.

As he was stumbling over his own words like crazy, without putting down his glass, he motions his hands in a way to accidentally spill over his gloved hand.

Keith cursed and put aside the glass into the sink and told Lance that he would be back while blushing in shame, thinking he just screwed up his chance in asking Lance out.

Lance stopped him and asked him why he didn’t just take off his gloves.

Keith was first confused, but then everything kinda crashed onto him.

He hadn’t told Lance of his hands.

His ugly hands.

His scarred hands with blotches on them.

He knew that Lance would hate them. Lance deserved someone who was perfect, someone that wasn’t cold like him, or someone who could actually get it when Lance told a joke, or someone who was beautiful to fulfill all of Lance’s needs.

Someone, someone that wasn’t… him.

Keith hadn’t noticed that he was hyperventilating until Lance was holding onto his upper arm a bit tightly, but not too tight. Telling him to breath. 

Right breath.

In and out.

In and out.

In and out.

Keith continued this, which felt like forever, until he felt somewhat calm.

Those thoughts were still in the back of his head which he hated. 

He felt being guided towards the sink where Lance slowly took off his gloves.

Keith froze, Lance stopped and looked at him. Without saying anything, Keith could read that Lance was asking him if he could take off his gloves.

Keith knew that he had to right now.

He nobbed, but told him in a timid voice quickly that he was attacked hence the scars.

Lance didn’t say anything and took off the gloves.

Keith slowly started to wash his hands while Lance calmly spoke.

His aunt was a nurse and had since childhood drilled into his head to not view others differently due to birthmarks and scars, that they are just a part of them and not all of them as a person. Lance explained that he may not know what it’s like to have what Keith has, but he's there to listen to others.

Keith almost slapped himself in the face.

He knew that Lance would do anything for the people he cares for. Heck, a couple of days prior he almost got into a fight with another classmate who had insulted Hunk for his body structure. It took both Keith and Hunk to not slaughter that person.

Keith then laughed and looked at Lance and told him how he wished that his classmates would have been as amazing as Lance.

Lance blushes slightly and looks a bit nervous. Realizing what he had just said, Keith blushed as well and looked to the side, with awkward silence taking over the kitchen.

Keith and Lance then stood there for a minute in silence until Keith thanked Lance and that he wanted to ask him something.

He hated how nervous he felt then.

Lance nobbed and they made their way into the living room. 

Strangely, Lance didn’t look around but instead kept his gaze on Keith and Keith alone.

Once seated in the couch next to each other, Keith starts to blurt everything out.

How he liked Lance more so than a friend, how he thought that he was amazing in almost all aspects (hey a guy can admit that their crush isn’t completely perfect, but also wouldn’t want to change it), how he feared that Lance wouldn’t like him, how he wanted to be in a serious relationship with Lance, how he was scared that he wouldn’t be enough, how he did not wanted to ruin their friendship, how Shiro told him to ask LAnce when he felt it was right and that Keith thought that now was the time, how-

Lance had to tell him to calm down since Keith was close to having a panic attack again.

Keith said sorry timidly and felt tense.

Damn, this wasn’t at all what he had planned.

He wanted to be somewhat romantic, but he guesses he could either only be completely blunt or stumble over his own words.

Damn him.

Lance then started to talk.

Keith was expecting a light rejection, but instead he got Lance… confessing that he liked him back.

When he first met him, he thought he was being clear about it and thought that Keith ignoring his flirting was his way of saying no and had since tried to focus onto someone else, but to prevail. How Lance really wanted to go out with him, but also being scared and ruining their friendship. And how Pidge and Hunk have been trying to get him to ask Keith out already.

Keith then started to laugh.

No not a small laugh, but a massive laughter.

Most would say it was because of his nerves. Any why yes that is part of it, it was also because Keith couldn’t believe how clueless they were.

Lance then started to laugh too.

After laughing for a while, Lance asked Keith what he wanted to do.

Keith said that since they are now technically dating, he wanted to spend the day with Lance and tomorrow, to which Lance smiled at.

Once realizing what he had just said, Keith put his blushing face into his hands and groaned how cliche and stupid he sounded.

Lance laughed and Keith grabbed a pillow of the couch and started to hit Lance with it, to which Lance retaliated by grabbing a pillow as well and trying to hit Keith.

This went on for a while until they were exhausted on the floor after pushing each other off of the couch.

Keith felt both happy yet tired from the stress.

Lance could tell and asked Keith if he wanted to order pizza.

Keith’s parents actually left behind enough money for pizza for him to order.

Once Keith told Lance this, Lance got up and walked towards his backpack and got out his wallet. He told Keith that he was getting his own money since he knew that he was hungry enough for another pizza.

Keith just nobbed and got up and laid on the couch and grabbed a blanket.

He wrapped it around himself and once Lance was done ordering over the phone (the group at this point already knew of each other's favorite toppings by heart), he made his way to Keith and sat next to him after Keith moved his feet to give Lance more space.

Once sat down, Lance told Keith of a couple of stories of himself being at his uncle's farm and how he was almost attacked by a mother pig and cat.

Keith just smiled due to exhaustion and listened to Lance.

Keith looked forward to spending more time with Lance, how he couldn’t wait to tell Shiro that he said yes, How he couldn’t wait to try and flirt with Lance (he knew he would end up sucking at it), how his parents will most likely show embarrassing photos of himself as a kid, Pidge will most likely ask for 10 bucks from Hunk since he had a theory that those two placed bets of Lance and himself, how he couldn’t wait to make Lance smile more and to kiss him.

Keith couldn’t wait to do several things.

Keith felt seriously happy.

Before he dozed off, Lance gently help one of his hands and kissed it, calling it beautiful in a gentle voice.

He knew that he was in safe hands.


End file.
